keep windows licence

[StalePie42]

I have a HP prebuilt and I wanted to install a different OS on it and it came with windows 10 pro installed and I was wondering if I reinstall windows or try a different os and go back to windows would I need to get a new licence?

[flibberdipper]

More often than not with prebuilts made in the last ~10 years, the product key is stored somewhere on the motherboard. Example time, my OptiPlex 7010 has a stored key for Windows 10 Pro that I have used numerous times to activate clean installs on it.

 

However it's still a good idea to track down some software that finds your product key and then save that bitch somewhere. A piece of software I've used a couple of times is Nirsoft Produkey, you could download that and give it a shot.

 

[tkitch]

 click Start and type 'activation'

 

If it says "Windows is activated with a digital license" you're good to try whatever, and then come back to windows.,

[aDoomGuy]

Well the licence should be linked to your M$ account. So you can go ahead and reinstall if you have used a M$ account that is. OEM machines (HP, Dell etc) used to have the licence on a sticker on the machine.

 

Furthermore your licence is OEM and if it is you cant use it on another machine. If it is retail you can. Here is how to check.

Right click start and choose Windows Terminal Administrator if you ddo not have that option for right click just search start menu for cmd or power shell and choose run as admin then input:

slmgr /dli

 

See if it says retail, OEM, volume channel in the Window that pops up.